Helen came rushing down the stairs from the attic. "Jeremy, have you seen Hubbard?" She asked. "I think he is downstairs in his workshop", I said. "Without another word she ran down to find the watchmaker in his familiar environment. There came the faint sound of a chair falling over and fast shuffling across the floorboards of an old man trying to run. As fast as the old man could, he made his way up along the spiral staircase that connects the downstairs shop with the upstairs living quarters. "He wasn't moving much and he looked kind of strange", Helen said to Hubbard who wasn't listening at all but was trying to make his way up to the attic. Getting a bit curious as to what Helen described I decided to follow them and see for myself. Hubbard and Helen were peering at the Triops tank and pointing at one specific corner. “He is moving but not much and he is twitching a bit as if he can’t control his muscles”, the horologist said. When I got closer I noticed one of the crabs lying on it’s back slowly waving its legs back and forth, completely different than the fast moving action otherwise observed from these monster shrimp. “Perhaps he’s having trouble getting out of his skin?” I asked. “That would explain why he appears stiff and rigid. The old skin is toughening up and is restricting his movements”, Hubbard nodded. It looked like the dying creature would take quite a while to expire and I did not want to stick around to witness that. For now there is still life in the animal and there is hope he might still break his useless skin and free himself from death by self-captivation. As usual dear reader I will keep you posted on these miniature dramatics.